The Sammamish Review and Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter shirk their civic and Fourth Estate duties.
Neither makes endorsements in elections.
The Review used to, but stopped last year in advance of the Sammamish City Council races. The Reporter never has.
There was no explanation from The Review for its reversal. The Reporter said people can make their own decisions.
Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama led the opposition to Sound Transit 3.
The Sammamish City Council’s vote Tuesday night to oppose Sound Transit 3 was the right choice for the City. The vote was 5-2.
ST3 takes bus service away from Sammamish but offers a park-and-ride for the north end, an obvious contradiction. Even the PNR is not a firm offer.
Taxpayers would fork out between $500m-$550m in taxes over 25 years for this.
Issaquah and Redmond get light rail extensions. But the Issaquah light rail goes to downtown Bellevue and south Kirkland, not Seattle. The rail station is projected to be at roughly I-90 and SR900, behind the QFC grocery store (presumably in the I-90 median.) It needs to go to Issaquah Highlands.
If Sammamish residents want to commute to Seattle by light rail, the choices would be to go to the QFC terminal, either by car or bus, then to Bellevue and connect to Seattle; or go to the potential north Park and Ride (if it happens), then to Redmond, through downtown Bellevue and on to Seattle.
Fat chance.
Kathy Huckabay
A salary study for City Council members was requested by Kathy Huckabay during the Sept. 20 meeting (at 184 minutes into the meeting on the video tape).
Members are paid $850/mo; the mayor gets $950/mo.
Huckabay asked the staff to conduct a salary review as part of the current budget process. Staff said it is undertaking a salary review study for employees. Her current term expires next year. She has not said whether she will seek reelection or retire,
“In that salary review, are you going to be reviewing city council salaries?” Huckabay asked. “Next year is an election year. It would be really important for potential people who are running for city council to understand what the salary schedule is.
“I understand Issaquah hired somebody and they did a salary study and they came back with an adjustment.”
Huckabay didn’t say what the Issaquah adjustment is. Huckabay asked a question about storm water costs immediately after her salary review question. Staff answered the second question but not the first.
A legal battle may be brewing between Issaquah and Eastside Fire & Rescue over damages to Issaquah drinking wells from highly toxic chemicals the city’s consultants say originated with the EF&R.
Issaquah has a conflict of interest and the City of Sammamish may also if Issaquah seeks damages from EF&R.
Two wells that provide drinking water for Issaquah residents were shut down briefly this summer from contamination of PFOS and PFOA, two toxic chemicals detected in the wells. The levels of toxicity were above Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Issaquah rushed to spend at least $1m to lease a filtering system to cleanse the water. The wells have been reactivated. Additional costs for consulting services continue.
Sammamish Plateau Water detected the chemicals at levels well below the EPA standards in nearby wells after conducting its own tests and hiring a consultant to assist.
Issaquah issued a press release yesterday in which it said the city and EF&R are working together to “further investigate potential sources of these PFCs.”
The city is cash-strapped and will likely make a claim against EF&R, Sammamish Comment is told.
Two members of the Issaquah City Council are on the board of EF&R, establishing a conflict of interest if Issaquah makes a claim for damages.
Two Sammamish city council members are on the EF&R board and a third is on the EF&R finance committee. Sammamish gets its fire service from EF&R, with taxpayers paying for this service. Sammamish City Council members thus could also be put into a position of a conflict of interest.
With two members of the EF&R board in a clear conflict of interest and two more in a potential conflict, the seven member fire board could be deprived of a quorum to decide how to settle any claim.
The Issaquah Press release:
Seattle Times graphic. Sound Transit added stations in Kirkland and North Seattle in an effort to win votes for ST3.
June 21, 2016: Sound Transit’s Board is to approve the $54bn, 25-year ST3 transit plan Thursday. Voters will be asked to approve $27bn in new taxes in November.
Across King County, the average homeowner is projected to pay about $500 more in taxes and fees annually. This includes new property and sales taxes and a sharp hike in the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax to $80 per $10,000 of vehicle value, as determined by the State. Vehicle values differ dramatically from Kelly Blue Book values when the MVET tax was similar in 1996, prior to repeal for $30 car tabs.
Sammamish Comment 